Deutsche Bank has hired part of Citibank's equity warrants team as part of its ongoing bid to topple Citibank as the number one warrants player. Frank Langer, deputy global head of warrants at Citibank in Frankfurt, and three of his traders will join Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt at the beginning of June. The bank also plans to hire five or six sales professionals in the coming months, according to Yassine Bouhara, head of European equity derivatives at Deutsche Bank in London. Bouhara told DW in 1999 it was planning on knocking Citibank off its number one perch (DW, 4/26/99) and he believes with these hires it has gone a long way to achieving that goal.
Tim Hart, director in global equity derivatives institutional sales at Deutsche Bank in London, said demand has grown for equity warrants because investors want over-the-counter type products but listed on an exchange. The bank can structure products, such as reverse convertibles, using over-the-counter derivatives and list them on the exchange to give a wider range of clients access to them.
Citibank plans to replace the traders who have left, according to Mark Denman, global head of marketing for warrants at Citibank in Paris. Ian Cramb, head of new markets in London, has been promoted to deputy global head of warrants. Denman declined comment on Deutsche Bank's ambition to knock it off the number one spot in warrants.
